This invention relates generally to improvements in valve assemblies of the type having a pushbutton operator for on-off control of water flow or the like, such as for use in controlling water flow to a bubbler head of a drinking fountain or the like. More particularly, this invention relates to an improved pushbutton-type valve assembly wherein the pushbutton operator is adapted for relatively quick and easy disassembly from a valve body to exposed an internal valve cartridge for facilitated service, repair or replacement. However, in accordance with the invention, removal of the pushbutton operator requires manipulation of components and the use of a special tool thereby providing a valve assembly construction that is not readily susceptible to unauthorized tampering or vandalism.
Drinking fountains are known in the art for use in both indoor and outdoor installations to provide a source of clean water suitable for human consumption. A typical fountain construction includes an upstanding or wall-mounted housing supporting at least one fountain or bubbler head positioned above and/or at one side of a suitable drain basin. The fountain housing normally encloses or conceals appropriate plumbing lines for coupling the bubbler head to a suitable water supply source. A user-accessible valve is mounted onto the fountain housing, or alternately mounted directly onto the bubbler head, for manual on-off movement to regulate water flow.
In many drinking fountain designs, the user-accessible valve includes a pushbutton-type operator designed for movement between a normal non-depressed position with the water supply turned off, and a manually depressed position for turning the water supply on. More particularly, a spring-loaded pushbutton is exposed to the exterior of the drinking fountain for user access, wherein the pushbutton is adapted for manual depression by the individual user to shift an internally mounted valve unit or cartridge from a normally closed position to an open position thereby initiating water flow to the bubbler head. Upon release of the pushbutton, the valve unit or cartridge automatically returns to the normal closed position thereby terminating the water flow to the bubbler head. One significant benefit or advantage provided by such pushbutton valve operators is that the internal valve components are concealed within the fountain housing and thus rendered substantially inaccessible to unauthorized persons to reduce incidents of undesirable tampering and related vandalism.
Pushbutton valve assemblies, however, have not provided for facilitated and convenient access to the concealed valve unit or valve cartridge by authorized maintenance personnel for purposes of periodic service, repair or replacement, in a manner consistent and compatible with prevention of unauthorized tampering and vandalism. That is, in such valve designs, it has been necessary for service personnel to remove access panels mounted onto the fountain in order to access and service the internal valve components by reaching through such access panels into the interior of a fountain housing. Such method undesirably requires service personnel to perform difficult mechanical assembly and disassembly steps while reaching into the typically cramped interior of the fountain housing, and often with limited visibility.
There exists, therefore, a need for further improvements in and to pushbutton valve assemblies designed for use in a drinking fountain or the like, wherein a pushbutton operator provides convenient and substantially tamperproof on-off control of water flow, and further wherein the pushbutton operator is adapted for relatively quick and easy disassembly from the exterior of the drinking fountain for convenient and substantially direct external access to an internal valve unit or cartridge for appropriate service, repair or replacement. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides further related advantages.